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i just bought pokemen ruby and sapphire off ebay and i suspect they may be fake, but i cant find any up to date guides on how to tell.
does anyone have any tips on how i can see if these carts are the real deal or not?

things that make me dubious are the fact that the carts "rattle" when i shake them, i can see batteries on the circuit boards (is this normal? i guess it might be for the RTC) and the cases just dont feel very sturdy. it could just be that they're old and well used but id like to know for sure.

Most bootleg Pokemon carts are different games, not just reproductions of other ones. Odds are your cart is just worn and used a lot (it's from Ebay, after all) and not everything is as tight as it was when it launched on day one. If the game plays exactly the same as the other versions, it should be real. Just look up pictures of the original cart on Google Images or something and make sure yours looks the same.

hrm, im sorry but you're not entirely correct. there are many *almost* exact reproductions of the original pokemon carts. i say *almost* because although the game plays exactly as it should, the internals and externals of the cartridge are not identical.

you're missing the point... if i wanted a fake cart id go to dealperfect and get one for £3. i paid £7 each on ebay for what i assumed were legit carts - now i want to know if they really are genuine or not.

i read the ebay thing already, it's total crap and out of date. he is saying that fake carts come in grey casing when they should be coloured - that is not the case.
the second link you posted refers to DS games.

Most GBC carts should be black if they support the original GB, and clear if they don't. Though I'm sure there's a couple exceptions.

Legal Pokemon Gold/Silver will be colored respectively. I'm not sure of Crystal, but I suspect it should be clear (as for some reason, it was Color-exclusive, even though Gold/Silver had original GB modes).

As others have said, the clock in GSC has made the batteries die out much faster than other GB games, so I wouldn't worry if the battery is an original or a replacement as long as its working.

things that make me dubious are the fact that the carts "rattle" when i shake them, i can see batteries on the circuit boards (is this normal? i guess it might be for the RTC) and the cases just dont feel very sturdy. it could just be that they're old and well used but id like to know for sure.

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I can't say for sure about your carts, but it's been my experience that a lot of carts (including DS carts) tend to rattle when you shake them a bit. Some do right when they're new from the box, others never do, and some start to make the sound after a little bit of use. The rattling shouldn't be anything to worry about, as I don't believe it's any kind of actual defect. Game still work perfectly years after they make those rattling sounds.